CLUBNEWS

27^th MAY, 2008

24/25^th May – Northern Under-17 and Under15 Championships, Wigan

ANOTHER STEADY WEEKEND’S MEDAL-COLLECTING

Statistically Club members didn’t do quite as well at Wigan as they did last year at South Leeds; two less medals (thirteen against fourteen), and a bias towards bronze (eight, against three Silvers and two Golds). Nonetheless it was a good effort, again from a smallish turn-out; and whole several of the medals could have been expected, there were a couple which came as pleasant surprises.

There was no doubt about what Day One was – what else but the Jake and Jake Show? Of the six medals collected by Leeds City members one – Bronze in the Under-15 Hurdles in an excellent 12.16, within fractions of his PB – fell to Matt Wagner, and of the others the two Golds went to Jake Armstrong while two Silvers and Bronze went home with Jacob Gardiner. It was typical that of his three efforts the only one in which Jake G. got a PB was the third place, in the Under-15 Discus, where he added about four metres (37.25) to the PB he’d set at South Leeds the previous week – only to see Jake A. improve on that showing by no less than nine metres to set a new PB of 41.38. Jake A then went on to win the Shot with another PB (12.88 ahead of Jake G.’s 12.25), and the other Gardiner Silver, in the Long Jump, came with another prodigious effort but not quite a best (5.60). Comparatively unnoticed in last place in the Shot, Connor Morley put just under a metre on his best putt with 7.01.

There were also a few near-misses. Amy Marchant near-missed in every sense in the Under-17 Long Jump – by two places and by one centimetre from her PB (5.19); Chole Harley also near-missed her PB in the heats of the Under-15 800, running 2.26.3, but couldn’t recapture it in the Final (6^th, 2.30.04). A similar tale unfolded for Jack Mosley; very close to his 200m best (24.68) in qualifying for the Under-15 200m Final, he also wound up 6^th with 24.92.

No titles came the Club’s ay on Day Two, but Tom Mosley couldn’t have got a lot closer; the finish of the Under-17 200 saw the first three separated by a twentieth of a second, with Tom in the middle on 11.28, not as fast as his heat (11.22) but the Final was run into a brick-wall wind of about three metres per second against. The wind was also a factor in Elliot Todd’s Bronze in the Under-15 1500, a time of 4.32.87 suggesting a very tactical race with a fiery finish; however, it seems to have been a patchy wind, because when Katy Marchant picked up her track Bronze in the Under-17 80m Hurdles (12.01, after an 11.85 heat) it was slightly and legally behind her. She also picked up Bronze in the Javelin with 31.03 to produce a matching set with sister Amy, who did likewise in the High Jump (1.65).

The other two Bronzes were a bit of a surprise. It has to be said the Connor Morley’s third in the Under-15 High Jump (1.30) owed most to lack of opposition – still, you’ve got to be in to win, as they say. Tom Connor’s Under-17 Javelin medal, however was down to edging out his PB by a further 15 centimetres (43.28) over his Yorkshire throw – a first-class effort. There were others that didn’t get medals; Robert Torch, for instance, was died last in his Under-17 1500m heat, but took ten seconds off his previous best time in doing it (4.29.46)

25^th May – National Junior League, Northern Premier Division, Gateshead

MUCH WEAKENED TEAM HANGS ON WITH RECORD SHOW

It’s been a conscious decision, both by some of the Club’s competing members and its team management, that if the Club’s priorities are to be met without flogging some of the younger members to death by over-competition, then the Junior League team is going to be the one that has to suffer a bit; and the complications of holidays, many of the Under-17s taking in the Northern Championships in preference, there was only about half a team out at Gateshead on Sunday; and the striking fact is that thanks to some willing bodies and a bit of improvisation the team didn’t finish last. In general the meeting wasn’t really an inspiring one; The Scribe confesses to thinking the Junior League the worst-organised of all the major competitions, with a programme that goes on for ever and seems to encourage over-running; he also admits to finding Gateshead a depressing venue, where things should be well-organised but frequently aren’t. He notes that while on the previous week the much more taxing Young Athletes’ League programme was run to time the Men’s Discus had barely started as the track programme ended, and leaves people to draw their own conclusions. :Team Performances

Les Lavin was only able to get seven young ladies to form his team, but the girls covered as much ground as they could, and some prodigious work-loads mounted up. Hannah Evenden, for instance, threw everything to hand – even the Javelin, which is a bit of an ‘irregular’ event for her, and produced two wins and a Club record – and typically it was the one she didn’t win, the Hammer, where the record came with a 46.16 effort. (It did take a Scottish Under-200 record to beat her, though!) Sister Stacey, limited to three by her youth, passed up on the Shot but scored well in all the others; the second Shot-putter was the unlikely figure of Kadena Cox, and a pretty fair shift she made of it too. Kadena and Danni Carr covered the sprints, and went well (the 100s were into a cold crosswind) in fields of high quality, Danni equalling her season’s best 200; while the only middle-distance competitor, Sophie Waterhouse, first ran a good tactical 800 to snatch third and then was rewarded for persistence by finally going under five minutes in the 1500 – only just, but it’s there. The rest of the team was Jessica Dobson and Liz Best, who did the 400, both Hurdles and both relays; and if Liz was a bit off-colour in her last 400 it wasn’t to be wondered at. The entire septet deserves the Scribal Award for services over and above the common call of duty.

The Lads were very similar; though there were rather more of them and they didn’t do as many events, the effort was there all round. There was a big contribution from two second-claimers, David Dempsey and Stuart Smith; Stuart (a Leeds Met. Student from Boston) did all the heavy throws and scored well, especially in the Discus, while David hurdled, vaulted, and Long-jumped and slung a Javelin to effect. Stuart was accompanied by Karl Evenden, who did three throws and officialled one (is this a record?) and added a couple of metres to his Best with the bigger Hammer; but the throw of the day on the male side came from Wesley Walker, who picked up the big Javelin in competition for the first time and took himself into the Top Ten Under-20s with 45.37 – and he reckoned he hadn’t really ‘got hold of it.’ On the track Mike Salter demonstrated the art of tactical 800 running by appearing to be off the pace at 400 and doing it all round the last bend; he also had a good 1500, but came up against a sale front-runner who wasn’t’ ‘doubling.’ Eddie Mason supported well in both races, and it was good to see Alex Davy looking sprightly in the 3000 (which was a very quick and competitive race at the ‘front end’), and Will Plastow looking a lot more comfortable over the longer distance to take a B race just about as competitive as the A. Tom Roberts had a bit of an of-day over 400, but ran two sound relay legs in scratch outfits (Alex Davy the Sprinter?), and Danny Davies went to watch and trotted a 400 for a point. There was just one maximum-point event for the Club; James Wilkinson shrugged off the opposition in the ‘Chase with a power display of front-running, while behind him James Lavin shrugged off most of the rest with a more tactical manner, working through to third in characteristic fashion.

DELIGHTED DAN AT WET AND WINDY WOODFORD

The Woodford Green Combined Events Meeting occasionally has visits from Leeds City’s multi-eventers; this year only one went, but in spite of some fairly unpleasant weather Dan Gardiner came back not only with a win in his age category but with a new Club Under-20 Decathlon record of 6857 points. Strictly speaking it’s a ‘wind-assisted’ record, as the three sprint events were all accompanied by over-the-limit wind readings; however, purists can spend many happy hours wrangling over whether such assistance is countered by running into the wind in the ‘circular’ events, and two of the windy ones, on the Saturday, were accompanied by steady rain.

On the cold and damp Saturday Dan opened his account with an 11.08 wind-assisted 100 (the first of six PBs – that’s the way to do ‘em!), then equalled his best Long Jump with 7.00 and wound up with another best in the 400 of 52.48; in between he produced a couple of more ‘routine‘ marks with 13.54 in the Shot and 1.77 in the High Jump. On Sunday the rain abated but the wind hung around; Dan, however, didn’t, clocking 15.72 to open Day 2 with another PB. He followed that with 41.81 with the Discus (he’s done better, but not in a multi-event) and became the fifteenth Club member to achieve a four-metre Vault. 44.03with the Javelin wasn’t far off his best mark, and he rounded off with a not unreasonable decathlete’s 1500 in 4.51.42. The total score was (“according to the announcer,” reports Dad Kevin) 5^th on the British Under-20 All-Time rankings with Under-20 hurdles and implements – and he’s got another year to go for the magic 7000.

AROUND AND ABOUT THE ROADS AND TRAILS

The John Carr 5k Series at Esholt – the famed Tour de Merde – didn’t see a great number of Leeds City participants this year, but there was one winner – Nick Hooker, coming back from injury, boosted his confidence by taking the third race of the series on May 20th in 15.51. Not far behind him was Chris Needham (11^th), whose 16.50 was slightly quicker than the 16.59 which gave him 21^st place in the first race a fortnight earlier. Another improver was Jennie Guard, who ran a very modest 20.02 in the first race (128^th) but was over a minute quicker (18.59) in 64^th a fortnight later. Also out in the last race was Rob Gatenby (83^rd, 19.30), but missing that day was Emily Klee, who’d been third woman in the first race (56^th, 18.14) and second in the second (36^th, 17.54).

There were several travelling efforts over the past week or so. Rebecca Devney didn’t travel very far on the 14^th – just to Cleckheaton to do the Spen Valley Greenway 10k – but she decided she fancied a bit of company, so she took Dad Steve with her. Having run with him most of the way, she then proceeded to outsprint him to finish a place in front (51^st, 47.20 to 52^nd, 47.28). The Scribe trusts there wasn’t a ‘domestic!’

Three members took in the Apperley Bridge Canter, a 10k race off the beaten road for the most part, on the 22^nd and seemed to enjoy it. Josh Whitehead, who likes that sort of thing, finished 4^th (35.05), while Sorrel Hoare was 6^th Lady home in 84^th (45.11). The other participant was Alistair Davy, who didn’t manage to repeat his age-group win of last year but still placed third Over-55 with a respectable 46.59.

The following night Celia de Maria made a somewhat longer trip into Darkest Cheshire for the Dunham Massey 5k; it was clearly a worthwhile effort, as she was first Lady finisher in 47^th place (18.23).

Touring parties were out in several directions on Sunday. A group of four headed into what’s now rural South Yorkshire (it used to be Pitland in The Scribe’s youth) for the Askern 10k, and got good returns. Aidan Adams was just outside the first three in 32.37, with Scott Mitchell in 11^th place (34.46); among the ladies Julie Barley was certainly second Over-40 lady in 93^rd place (40.22), but according to the result-sheet Kirsteen Young, who finished 48^th in 38-12, was second Lady, being beaten by a 50-year-old from Penistone. The Scribe begs leave to question!

Meanwhile Darran Bilton nipped across North Yorkshire to chase Sheep round the Vale of York – the Sheep in question being of the Black variety and in a bottle, which was part of the prize for the Melmerby 10k. Darran reports that “having won by a tad under three minutes I did feel a little sheepish, but as I was wearing Leeds City kit there as no pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes.” The Scribe has never herd of anything like it, and Darran suggests that if he tries any more sheep jokes “I’ll be for the chop!”!

Mike Burrett, who lives within training distance of Melmerby, decided that he fancied a bit of historic rural scenery for his Sunday outing and went further north to the Raby Castle 10k, an off-road race round the splendid – and hilly – park surrounding the castle. He seems to have been inspired by the surroundings, as he placed third (33.17) behind the consistent Martin Scaife.

Some distance to the west, Sean Cotter made a quick crossing of the Pennines to run the Chorley Harriers’ 10-Mile Race, and made it worthwhile by finishing third in a field of over 200 (56.47), just over half a minute down on the winner, and taking the Over-40 prize by a margin.